George Lombard Jr. wasted no time giving Yankees fans a reason to pay attention.
In his first big league game Tuesday night, the Yankees’ top prospect went 1-for-2 with a home run and a walk in a 2-0 win over the Cardinals. He also made his presence felt at shortstop, where he turned in a few sharp plays, including an off-balance throw that started a double play in the second inning. He added another tough play in the fourth and handled one more in the fifth.
“You see how fluid he is out there, how physical he is,” manager Aaron Boone said of Lombard. “The ease with which he makes plays, it’s kind of what I’ve marveled at the last two springs being around him.”
Lombard, 21, entered the season as the No. 1 prospect in the Yankees’ system. The first-round pick in the 2023 draft moved quickly to Triple A earlier this season after a strong start at Double A.
His arrival comes at a time when shortstop has been unsettled for the Yankees. Utilityman José Caballero has handled most of the starts there, but he doesn’t look like a long-term answer at the position.
Anthony Volpe, who had opened the previous three seasons as the starter, began this year on the injured list and has struggled at the plate and in the field. When Lombard was promoted, Volpe was sent to Triple A.
Boone now has some lineup decisions to sort through. Caballero was out of the lineup Tuesday, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. stayed at second base and Ryan McMahon remained at third.
McMahon has been one of the Yankees’ weakest hitters; only catcher Austin Wells has a worse OPS among regulars. Caballero has played third before, and Chisholm has too, so Boone could shuffle things if he decides to put Caballero at second.
Lombard may not be an All-Star right away, but he gives a Yankees club that has been running on fumes since Cody Bellinger joined Aaron Judge on the injured list a fresh jolt of energy.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Tarik Skubal’s debut with the Dodgers didn’t produce the instant dominance some had been waiting to declare inevitable. Los Angeles fell 5-1 to the Cubs in Chicago, with Skubal allowing two runs on four hits over six innings. He struck out six and walked two in his first appearance at Wrigley Field.
The Dodgers’ only run came on a solo homer from former Cub Kyle Tucker in the second inning. After Chicago starter Javier Assad exited with two outs in the sixth, four Cubs relievers combined to keep Los Angeles hitless the rest of the way.
Even in defeat, Skubal liked what he saw from himself.
“I think my stuff was plenty good,” he told reporters. “I felt like I commanded everything really well. When I was missing, I was missing in the areas that I was trying to go.”
The loss was the Dodgers’ fifth straight, following Monday’s opener in Chicago and a sweep by the Red Sox over the weekend. It’s their longest skid of the season, and they’ve been outscored 35-16 during the stretch. This is only the second time in the past six seasons they’ve endured a five-game losing streak while being outscored by at least 19 runs.
Even with the slump, the Dodgers are still firmly on track for a fifth consecutive NL West title. They lead the second-place Diamondbacks by nine games.
The bigger race is for the top record in the NL and home-field advantage in the playoffs, with the Brewers and Braves in the mix. Milwaukee’s four-game series at Dodger Stadium later this month could end up carrying real October weight.
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From there, the bullpen picture becomes a little more interesting, and a lot more uncertain. The Yankees could end up using Ryan Weathers and Will Warren in higher-leverage roles if the rotation returns as planned, while recent additions Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos give the roster more moving parts elsewhere. It is a practical solution for now, but one that leaves plenty riding on whether those arms can hold up when the games start tightening again. [Read more 🡒]